“Ethics experts have questioned why Mr. Bernhardt was given approval to take part in the Endangered Species Act decisions on the delta smelt, since Westlands would be among the largest beneficiaries of the policy change”

nytimes.com/2019/11/09/cli… via @NYTimes “Four other former @Interior officials described the exchanges between Mr. Bernhardt and the ethics lawyer who reports to him as “extraordinary,” “atypical” & “intimidation.”

Via @CoralMDavenport

Thing I’ve been hearing a lot recently: “Real Time Fish monitoring should dictate when the CVP & SWP export pumps are turned off to protect #endangeredspecies. See fish-pump off...no fish-pump on”.

There is *so* much wrong with this, it will require a #thread to unpack. 2a) Real time monitoring is not individual surveillance. Ecological monitoring will always miss individuals, esp. for rare species. (ie, we call it “sampling” & use statistics).

Monitoring will likely miss rare species & the early/late migrants that populations depend on.

(Thread) A scientist’s view of the urgent need for @GavinNewsom to sign SB#1, written by @sentoniatkins.

Like every scientist concerned with preventing #extinction of #SFBay’s fish species, I want #endangeredspecies management to use only the best available science. 1/ @GavinNewsom @SenToniAtkins I supported then-Secretary @sallyjewell's call to review #endangeredspeciesact safeguards for the Bay’s imperiled fish species. Those reviews were necessary bc endangered fish continued to decline; Jewell wrote that she expected the review to lead to increased protections. 2/